Thoughts of a Dying Cynic
by e.vermillion
Summary: Short, one-shot drabble in the last hours of a dying Seto Kaiba. T for some blood.


Gosh, this is short. This is something that I wrote really quickly on a very boring day. =A= I rather like it, and it's one of the only things I have ready to publish at the moment, it was just sitting around... Sad? Yes. Uh, what else...? Oh yes, I need to put one of those Disclaimer thingies, hm? I haven't done this in a while. xD; Well, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or any of the characters in it, and if I did, this certainly wouldn't happen in it...

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The sky overhead was gray - a common, unimportant color on a common, unimportant day. The blood on the pavement was a bright, striking red against the sidewalk, but even such a bold color faded into the grayness of the pavement. Seto Kaiba was dying.

People bustled around him as if they didn't see, although the blood covered his clothes, flowed over his pale chin. He didn't bother wondering why these people were so apathetic, so dispassionate - he knew enough about the world to realize how they all were. Just hours ago, he had felt the same way about all those people. No one gave him much more than a glance.

It hurt for him to breathe - he was sure that the knife blade had punctured his lung. Every breath he took was raspy, and every exhale left more flecks of blood on his chin.

It wasn't as though he'd never felt pain, though this might have trumped the rest of those instances; he could take it, though... until it was over.

His steps were unsteady, faltering. Every now and then, he tripped on a slight raise in the pavement. Still no one stopped. He wasn't sure of where he was going - it didn't matter much. The pain was starting to blind him and people continued to pretend to not see it, even after he ran right into them.

His feet were unwittingly taking him in a direction he had only been in perhaps twice in his life. Maybe because it was on the way, or maybe he subconsciously knew who lived that way. The people around him had thinned out and the ones who remained, milling around, were giving him as wide a berth as they could on the sidewalk.

Seto didn't want forgiveness - he didn't want much, for a dying man. He wasn't begging for his life, praying to any god or demon. The rich and powerful never died natural deaths. He wasn't expecting to last longer than his thirtieth birthday - so what if his plans were cut short by eight years or so? He knew he hadn't been a saint in life (not many people were today).

It wasn't as though he had much to live for anymore anyway.

Despite that, however, he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of panic when he blacked out - it was only a split second, but just that second was enough to make him a little uncertain about going somewhere he knew nothing about. Since he was young, his life had been about knowing - about learning everything you could and using your knowledge to get to the top. Now he was going somewhere there were no facts or numbers about your death, no reviews, no manuals on dealing with it. All people could do was believe in something, and Seto didn't have that ability. The only thing he knew was that wherever this place was, his brother was there... but there was no comfort in that fact for some reason.

Seto coughed painfully, and was no longer strong enough to hold himself up. He stumbled over to the staircase of a building closeby and fell on his hands and knees, hidden from the few passerby behind a bush. Blood splattered audibly in the mulch, and Seto gripped the fabric of his shirt over the gaping wound, tears of pain clinging to his eyelashes. His vision was getting fuzzy around the edges.

He choked back as much blood as he could, and got off his hands and knees to lean back on the staircase. He was sure he didn't have much longer...

He dropped his head back, and the bright neon sign of the building he leaned on caught his eye: 'Kame Game Store.'

Without the strength to get up, Seto laughed to himself, because to do it out loud would only kill him faster.

God sure had a sick sense of humor.

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I don't expect much from this in the way of reviews, but it would be nice. :3 And in case you're wondering, I did imply a few things...


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